TECHNOLOGYA devastating plague
as originTetranychus urticae, a plant-feeding mite species that
cause devastating plagues worldwide, produces silk for colony protection,
movement and communication. It is a highly attractive light-weight biomaterial
that has high tensile strength, elasticity and is compatible with human
tissues. Compared to spider silk, its diameter is 250 times smaller but has a
similar or larger Young’s module (A measure of the elastic material stiffness,
Hudson et al. 2013). Spider mite silk has a
board field of application
Bio-nanomaterials are one of the fastest
developing sectors of industry and technology. The exceptional nanoscale size
(resembling carbon-nanotubes) of spider mite silk makes it a more preferred
material for the development of new materials for use in industry, agriculture,
cosmetics and medical biotechnology.Spider mite silk is different
Commercial production of spider silk remains in
the experimental phase because of the lack of genomic resources in spiders, the
complex mode of spider silk production and the incomplete understanding of silk
polymerization. Our team sequenced the
whole genome of the two-spotted spider mite (TSSM), Tetranychus
urticae, which has led to the discovery of the entire family of
silk-producing genes (fibroins).